MESSENGER

Now at the Seventh Gate the seventh chief,
Thy proper mother's son, I will announce,
What fortune for this city, for himself,
With curses he invoketh:--on the walls
Ascending, heralded as king, to stand,
With paeans for their capture; then with thee
To fight, and either slaying near thee die,
Or thee, who wronged him, chasing forth alive,
Requite in kind his proper banishment.
Such words he shouts, and calls upon the gods
Who o'er his race preside and Fatherland,
With gracious eye to look upon his prayers.
A well-wrought buckler, newly forged, he bears,
With twofold blazon riveted thereon,
For there a woman leads, with sober mien,
A mailed warrior, enchased in gold;
Justice her style, and thus the legend speaks:--
'This man I will restore, and he shall hold
The city and his father's palace homes.'
Such the devices of the hostile chiefs.
'Tis for thyself to choose whom thou wilt send;
But never shalt thou blame my herald-words.
To guide the rudder of the State be thine!


ETEOCLES

O heaven-demented race of Oedipus,
My race, tear-fraught, detested of the gods!
Alas, our father's curses now bear fruit.
But it beseems not to lament or weep,
Lest lamentations sadder still be born.
For him, too truly Polyneikes named,--
What his device will work we soon shall know;
Whether his braggart words, with madness fraught,
Gold-blazoned on his shield, shall lead him back.
Hath Justice communed with, or claimed him hers,
Guided his deeds and thoughts, this might have been;
But neither when he fled the darksome womb,
Or in his childhood, or in youth's fair prime,
Or when the hair thick gathered on his chin,
Hath Justice communed with, or claimed him hers,
Nor in this outrage on his Fatherland
Deem I she now beside him deigns to stand.
For Justice would in sooth belie her name,
Did she with this all-daring man consort.
In these regards confiding will I go,
Myself will meet him. Who with better right?
Brother to brother, chieftain against chief,
Foeman to foe, I'll stand. Quick, bring my spear,
My greaves, and armor, bulwark against stones.

Run away my pale sister
Sink safely below the rim
Else my rays will burn your face
As my strength explodes over the earth

But, then savor these minutes
When we share the sky
And your lovely illumination
Yields always to my blaze.

And through the day
As I burn the landscape
I forget you, until,
You appear again, behind me.

Hard and soft, hard and soft
Warm and cool, warm and cool
We soak this planet in our own cycle
Using the same light. Mine!

I write to exorcise
my demons,
who lie in wait
& are well organized
behind my darkened eyes.
When the morning star rises,
I cry & they are satiated
until it sets yet again,
when they come alive
for me to live out my sins.
In perfect harmony,
I write,
I write,
I write,
to get them off
my tortured mind.

Intertwined,
kissing,
in the relentless surf,
she accepted
every angle
of her
wonderful predicament
& he
on the other hand,
was willing and able
to dish out his very best,
glistening,
stoking coals,
in and out
under the moonlight
casting a pale light
on their romance,
they wished on falling stars,
listening to the shoreline
lap continuous-waves
& soft whispers.

You swallowed me whole.
You took away all my pain
& I called you home.
Full circle is too cliche
& I know,
I know
I will never,
never lie beside you.
Not even in my fairy tale
this time.

I will break this,
this yearning,
waiting
for something beautiful
to fall from the sky,
heavier than a meteorite,
before it breaks me....
but it's so hard to get away
from gazing upward
toward Heaven.